ShoreTel is expanding its Sky cloud-based product portfolio with the introduction of AppFuse, a new application integration solution that is intended to unify CRM with the telephone.

But more so, ShoreTel is hoping to attract Salesforce.com customers in particular as it touts the platform "as the first true cloud-to-cloud integrated business phone system solution for Salesforce.com."

Brent Barbara, senior director of alliances and solutions engineering, explained further in prepared remarks that "ShoreTel Sky AppFuse represents the culmination of our vision that Salesforce should serve as the comprehensive record for customer and prospect interactions for the entire business."

AppFuse is designed to allow business customers to have their activities fully integrated with their CRM system, whether they are remote or in the office, logged in or out of the system, on a smartphone or a desk phone.

Some of the available features include voicemail transcription, capturing call records on mobile phones using ShoreTel Mobility and expanded device support for personal gadgets used at work.

Two of the Salesforce-friendly functions include single sign-on for the ShoreTel Sky contact center and from within the Salesforce.com application along with Salesforce Intelligent Routing to direct callers to the sales representative or contact center agent to whom they last spoke.

Barbara asserted that AppFuse is supposed to offer sales and service representatives with both "the ability to quickly understand all past voice based interactions" and provide "management actionable data to run the business by the numbers."

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive based in San Francisco, covering business and enterprise technology for ZDNet, CNET and SmartPlanet.
She has previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish Americ...
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